boldly going

(Someone Stole) Worfs Bat'leth: Early in Worfs first Season what it says on the tin. Comedic relief filler sandwiched between two heavy emotional episodes. Worf and Odo both spend the episode on the Warpath looking for the Thief, final scene is Mariner fearfully returning it and explaining that she accidentally broke it and was determined to see it fixed. 《Beginning of a Worf/Mariner unlikely animal friendship, establishes some preexisting Klingon Connections, Odos ongoing investigations of Mariner become a running Bit that's played just slightly more serious than his everlasting suspicion of Quark, from here the writers begin to play with the idea that while Quark is harmless. Maybe Mariner isnt...》

A Mariners Defiance: fandom name: Babies First Warcrimes: a couple seasons of background tomfoolery after the Bat'leth incident, Something Something while the Senior Officers are arguing about what to do about a potentially dire situation Mariner takes matters into her hands and steals the Defiant to protect a prewarp civilization from enslavement by The Dominion, breaking the Prime Directive and worsening tensions between The Federation and the Dominion in the process. Surprisingly, despite his understandable outrage, Sisko sticks his neck out to protect her from the worst possible consequences of her crimes. 《Beckett Mariner Character Thesis Episode, her same exact shtick from Second Contact but its during Wartime and there are much bigger consequences this time around》

Freemans Flight: Final Season. a season or two of typical Mariner Shenanigans, sometimes background sometimes B plot, after Mariners Defiance, Dual Narrative Nonlinear Storytelling; story A:, ds9 present day, Mariner is in the Brig accused of killing an important diplomat who she had a heated political disagreement with on the promenade prior to their death, Kira is her self appointed defender and Sisko is also [still] sticking his neck out to protect the troublesome junion officer despite the mountain of evidence pointing to her guilt, and only Dax seems to understand why. Odo investigates the crime and ultimately uncovers that while she has been framed for the murder, she is guilty of a Whole Bunch of Other Crimes and Misdemeanors[including a handful of loose threads and unsolved mysteries from throughout the past several seasons of the show("did Mariner do that? ask fans. "YES" answer writers)]. Cleared of the Murder but facing disciplinary action for her other misdeeds, Mariner asks for a Transfer, thanking Benjamin for trying to help her all these years and saying she doesn't want to cause him anymore trouble.

Story B: Flashbacks, Benjamin Sisko Starfleet Academy Adventure, featuring Carol Freeman. I don't have a solid story here but basically Benjamin and Carol were at the Academy together and have some kind of Shared Trauma wherein Carol saved either Benjamin's life or chances in Starfleet, thus is why hes been protecting her. 《 Mariner Nepo Baby Moment, but make it a Noir Mystery and also a coming of age adventure. Lower Decks established that Mariner has been screwing up and being protected by her parents and their friends amongst the Admiralty for a While, this is when that started. If her parents weren't so well respected and if Benjamin Sisko himself hadn't stuck his neck out for her, her career would be over here and now.》

@garaks-padded-cell